New years resolutions

At this time of year, people often blog about new years resolutions – things they will do differently in 2015. I’m not a bit fan of new years resolutions. I’m more of a goal oriented person. I like to set myself goals for the coming year.

My first and foremost goal for 2015 is to recover from cancer treatment. I want to regain my strength. I have four cycling related goals. The first is to get back on the bike. Before I can ride a bike again, I need to have my drain removed (I still have two drains which are producing a healthy amount of fluid). The drains will be removed within the next two weeks – as at a certain point it becomes unhealthy to keep them in. Once the drains are out I need to wait one week before I’m permitted to bike – this is because we don’t want any fluid build up after the drains are removed. Then training begins.

I have two local cycle challenges and it is uncertain which order they will occur in. The first is to ride from the fire station to the top of Mount Hamilton. I did this the week before chemo when I was feeling strong, so doing it again will be a demonstration that I’ve gotten my strength back. The other is a ride we had planned for the end of AC chemo, that we had to abandon because the last round of AC knocked me down. This would be for hubby and I get up early one day and take the CalTrain into downtown San Francisco with out bikes and then bike home (or as far as we can during daylight hours). I am hoping that by the end of April I will have achieved both of these.

The bike cycle adventure for the year is the Young Survivor Coalition’s Tour de Pink, in October. They haven’t announced where the West Coast ride will be yet. Unfortunately, they don’t allow recumbents on their rides, so both Scott and I will be riding our road bikes. The fundraising is also going to be a huge challenge, at $2500 each! But the cause it is a good one, and the ride sounds like a lot of work (over 100km/day) but also a lot of fun. The physical challenge will be a true demonstration of getting my health back.

On the walking front, I have two events planned – the Avon Walk (accepting donations now – I need to raise $1880), and the Peak Hike for Prevention (fundraising requirement of $250). I did the Peak Hike last year (bald). It was the last long walk I did, as the effects of Paclitaxol (chemo) made it impossible for me to walk any distance. I was part of an amazing team who have been hiking since the hike started 19 years ago. This year we are trying to grow the group to 50 hikers. I am hoping to be able to do the 11 mile hike rather than the 7 mile one (which I did, but just barely). In preparation for both of these events, I hope to do some more hiking on the various trails that surround us.

On a professional front, at some point I hope to be looking for a job. I need to first ensure that I’ve got my physical strength back – that is my first priority. I’m also working on a four-week free open online course called “Should I blog?” that is targeted towards anyone with cancer who is considering blogging. I plan to offer the first course in March and offer it monthly there after. After the first six month I’ll re-evaluate and see what needs tweaking. So, although I will be looking for a job, that likely won’t start until August or September when I’m feeling strong again.

Although active treatment is over, I do need at least one more surgery. It is what is known as “revision surgery” and is mostly a clean up surgery. Once we see how my body heals, there is an opportunity to go back and tweak different aspects – to fix scars and move fat around to remove lumps and fill in divits. I’m told the surgery is much easier than the one I just had (pretty much anything will be easier than the surgery I just had). I can officially say that this last three months have been the hardest of my life (harder than both Africa and RAGBRAI) – so I am ready to move on.